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Food Allergy
What's your eczema treatment routine?
Both of my kids are (un)lucky enough to have eczema.
DD's has mellowed as she's gotten older - now she gets it only in winter, behind knees. Easily treatable with oatmeal baths and some good cream.
DS, on the other hand, is one big rash. Our pedi gave us some Rx ointment. It's Hydrocortisone Valerate. We also use Vanicream.
So we bathe him about every other night, with either just water, oatmeal bath (to help itching) or Cetaphil.
Pat dry, moisturize with Vanicream. Hit big flare-ups with the Rx (usually 1-2X per week we do that, which knocks it down, then it creeps back up over the course of the week).
His worst areas are ankles (digs at them constantly), behind knees and wrists.
And ideas/recommendations?
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Re: What's your eczema treatment routine?
We have spent a lot of time on eczema as well since all three of my kids have or had it. The older boys have outgrown it - thankfully - but DS#3 still gets awful flares in the winter.
I have spoken with the pedi, our allergist and a dermatologist about this and ended up using a mish-mash of their advice.
We bathe every day. I know conventional wisdom is not to but our pedi said keeping the skin hydrated is key. So we bathe then immediately slather head to toe with CeraVe cream (sold in a tub or a pump). We used Aquaphor when the kids were little but they hated it. Can't say I blame them. You can use Benadryl cream to help with the itching. For non-steroid creams we've used Atopiclair with some success and a couple of others I can't remember the names of. DS also takes 1tsp of Zyrtec daily, year round.
We were told to let DS play in a tepid bath with 1/4 cup of pure bleach added at least once a week. Evidently the bleach helps kill staph/mrsa that lives on the skin and can cause infections when the skin is broken.
Twice last year we had to use antibiotics b/c the flare up on DS's face became infected. He tends to get flares on his eye lids, around this mouth and in the bends of his knees and elbows. It's terrible looking and just sad. =( I am hoping he outgrows this like his brothers did.
ETA: I just remembered the name of the other non-steroid cream. It's EpiCeram.
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
We also do daily lukewarm baths. We add oatmeal or epsom salts if the flare up is bad. After bath- we use calendula cream. We tried about every lotion on the market and this kind works the best for him. If it's a really bad flare- we'll use the 2.5% hydracortizone on the bad spots. We do the calendula throughout the day as needed.
We just started daily claritin a few weeks ago and that has helped tremendously. J has a combo of environmental + food allergies and the pollens right now are nuts.
In addtion to that stuff- we only do cotton clothing/bedding etc. since the poly and fleece seem to irritate his skin. He is not allowed in/on his bed in daycare clothes or if he's been playing outside. If he's been outside in the morning during a bad outbreak he wears clean clothes for a nap. I'd like to go to no shoes in the house but getting my DH and in-laws on board will be a struggle. They still don't think that we track that much pollen inside.....
Just curious--what brand of calendula cream do you use? We bought CA Baby calendula cream but it has a lavender scent so I can't use it on DS's eczema.
just curious, what are his allergies?
None identified.
DD had multiple food allergies as an infant, but DS hasn't had any of the symptoms she has - just the eczema.
He does have some congestion, so we are going to do testing at some point, but her doc doesn't think we need to just yet.
I used to use Aveeno until my DS developed an allergy to oat. Once I stopped the Aveeno his skin started to clear up A LOT within 12 hrs. He is now completely clear and he was REALLY bad. Our routine is a little locoid cream mixed with Vanicream once in AM and once at night and lotion only in between. Now that he had NO ezcema, I still lotion him at least twice daily but use the locoid as needed. Good luck!
My son has allergies to milk, soy, coconut, & oat.
My son's only sign was eczema also and he is allergic to milk/soy/eggs/peanuts (eggs and peanuts is severe). If his eczema is this severe, it might be an allergy? Do you BF? maybe if you take a few things out of your diet (milk/soy) or change his formula, his eczema would get better.
I would assume allergies especially since your DD had allergies as a baby.
How old is he? i guess depending on his age, i would either push for testing or try to eliminate things on your own.
With DD1 we did a daily bath, pat dry, moisturized immediately with Mustela Stelatopia, and we used hydrocortisone ointment on the flare-ups. We only used CB super-sensitive body wash. Vanicream, Aquaphor, and Aveeno products all made her break out in a head-to-toe rash.
If I were you, I'd try bathing him every night, and make sure you apply ointment/moisturizer within 3 minutes of him getting out of the bath. If you wait longer than that, their skin loses the hydration that it got from the bath.
We use the Jason's (Earth's Best) organics (at Whole Foods but cheaper on Amazon). Weleda baby makes it also but it isn't nut allergy safe (I think it has almond oil in it). I've seen the unscented CA baby calendula cream also- the Jason's is cheaper.
we are now trying eliminating wheat(he just tested allergic to wheat, peanuts, and egg whites) from his diet to see if that is what brings on his flare-ups.
We do nightly lukewarm baths with Halos N Horns baby bath, and moisturize immediately with Oilatum cream. DS only has cotton clothing and bedding, except his favorite blanket. It's made from very fuzzy fabric, but doesn't irritate his skin. We use Fairy non-bio laundry detergent for sensitive skin. It has a mild fragrance, but is the only one that doesn't cause a rash and blistering. We do not use fabric softener at all.
When he flares up really bad, we have a corticosteroid cream to use twice a day for no longer than a week. It's really strong and usually clears up the eczema within two or three days.